How To Get Booked As A Speaker With Jarrod Lopiccolo

Hi, everyone. Henry DeVries from Agency Rainmaker TV. This is the TV show where we help agency owners make it rain with RightFit clients. So we always like to get a look into people who are doing that.

And I have Jared Lopicolo with me today. Jared, how are you today? I'm good, Henry. Very good.

Glad we're having this conversation. How are you? Excellent. Now that you're here, I want to hear about who you are and who you serve.

Yeah, yeah. So, well, so my name is Jerry LaPiccolo. You got the name right. So thank you for that.

And I would like to say that I'm a digital architect. I actually went to school for architecture and the whole idea was really crafting, you know, for the human experience. And I just really gravitated towards the Internet, right? And the idea that, you know, we are not just users or sessions, but they're actually real people that have intent and have needs.

And so I just love the fact that we get to work with clients, helping crop their brand stories and really connecting people's needs with companies and brands. Well, that's great. Is there a certain niche you serve or who do you serve? Yeah, we do.

So over the time, we've been doing this for 22 years now, and we really kind of grew as like a digital agency. Now we're a full brand, you know, full brand advertisement marketing agency. we have found that about 55% of our revenue or effort, if you will, we put towards the travel and tourism industry. And I think we just got enamored in the product that they sell, right?

They're really selling memories and experiences and things you just, you take with you for the rest of your life. So that's kind of a big focus of our area. Well, you're headquartered in the Reno Carson city, Lake Tahoe area, a lot of tourism in the state of Nevada, but do you go to California and other states to promote? Yeah, we do.

In fact, about probably a big portion of our, probably 50% of our travel and tourism clients reside on the West Coast. And a lot of those are in California. So we work with Yosemite. We work with Lake Tahoe is a big client of ours.

And actually the entire state of Nevada, as you mentioned, it's a very tourism driven state. It's probably our number one economy. We work with the entire state itself and really attracting those kind of visitors to come in and hopefully play and stay a lot longer than they expected Well you get my money for a cabin every year in Yosemite So maybe you're doing something right. I'll tell our client that.

Thank you. Well, let's talk about how you make it rain, both for your clients and how you make it rain for the agency. Yeah, I think over time, I really enjoy talking about this because I feel that people I always talk about people being the variable, right? It's something that every company has, and it's usually their secret weapon or their differentiator is the culture or the people that you work with.

And so I like to think about meaningful connections. And really what that is is like myself or the agency, a lot of our business is brought in by the fact that I'll speak and go to conferences or speak at universities or I'll talk with prospects. And ultimately, when they decide to actually work with us is because we've had an authentic connection over something. And it's that chemistry that really bonds us.

And I feel like in general, not just more than ever do we need this now, but we just need those deep, meaningful connections. Because when you finish the work, it's what you remember most is that connection you had with someone. And so that is truly how we make it rain, if you will, at Noble Studios is just building deep, authentic connections. Don't sell first, right?

Like find something in common. And then oftentimes what you'll find is that that other person or that connection has similar interests and similar needs. And then that's when the actual, you know, the sort of sales happens is post that initial authentic connection. And we try to we try to do that with our with the brands we work with as well.

How do you create a deeper connection with your consumer or your customer? Because, as you know, right, one time purchase is quite expensive to garner. But when you get that repeat purchase or that repeat visitation, that's when it really matters most. Yeah.

When I teach people storytelling or I teach book writing, I always say there's four things you need to do. You need to make people think. You need to make people feel. You need to make people laugh.

You need to make people feel noble. So I always love your name with noble because there's nobility in a lot of what we do. Let go to that You get booked as a speaker That easier said than done How do you get booked as a speaker Yeah well so actually ironically tomorrow I be speaking for the NYU graduate course and they teaching on tourism planning And you could easily just talk about tourism and how it helps boost the local economic impacts and the value it is But but really, when you think about why you would want to be teaching someone is so they can walk away with a different perspective.

And so so tomorrow, you know, I'll be talking about the sort of interconnected disciplinary relationships that exist around tourism, right? Whether it's government and planning or it's hotels and attractions or it's the visitor or it's the residents. And when you can see and maybe that's part of that architecture, you know, upbringing that I had. But when you can see all of those connections, I think that's when that's when the true magic happens.

And so oftentimes I like to come a little bit deeper than just sort of bringing a charismatic, you know, funny, you know, sort of friendly approach to teaching. But it's actually when they can walk away with something of value, maybe a different perspective they never heard before. And so now my brand is out there to where, you know, I'll bring these really great, fun stories. And, you know, over the course of 22 years, you collect those fun stories and those life-changing moments.

But I think it's really bringing that different perspective that they wouldn't get out of a book. They wouldn't get it from a professor that maybe has only been a teacher their entire life and whatnot. So I'm going to go deeper on NYU. So that's going to be an online?

You're going to be online talking to me. It is. Yeah, yeah. I was meant to be in New York.

Well, I was there a few weeks ago, and then I was meant to be there again. And then we just said, let's not move the class. And so, yeah, there's quite a few hundred people that I'll be speaking to, which is always a little nerve-wracking at first. But when you realize they're there to learn something, and it's really not about you as the teacher.

It's about what they can walk away with. That's when you can switch, right? I do a lot of moderating as well with panels. And you have to remember, it's not about you as a panel member.

You know, your job is to really unlock these individuals and all of their knowledge that they have and make them shine like rock stars as well and get their point of view across to the table and the audience. And so I enjoy that just so much as when someone can walk away saying you know what I never thought of it that way or I never even considered that before And now they have a different life perspective on that topic So you're preaching to the choir. I'm a former professor and assistant dean for continuing education at the University of California, San Diego.

And my daughter, Carla, got her graduate degree and went on to be a professor and a museum director from NYU. So we're familiar with the purple robes that they wear there. So, but you hit upon it, and it's also a college audience, and people will ask, well, you know, I don't know, for some reason, they sort of mistake a college audience as somebody who's not connected to business, but that is, they're very, especially if a company has paid money to send them and, you know, the other nature of how people get there and vote for that.

Well, we're almost out of time. Jared, is there anything that I didn't ask or you wanted to share? Well, I just think that, you know, one of the things that I've learned over the years, and this is just by having so many deep, you know, connected relationships, I would just say anyone that's out there exploring something new, whether it's a new business or a new topic or a new job or a new relationship, I think it's really important that we always stay curious and that we lead with asking for advice.

I oftentimes say when you ask for advice, you get opportunity. And if you ask for opportunity, oftentimes you get advice. And so just, you know, stay humble, stay curious. The world is out there for you.

People want to pay it forward. They want to teach you what they've learned over their years. And that's really kind of the, you know, in my, my, you know, 45 right now. And that's where I'm really, I'm shining the most right now in my career is that I'm able to take all these sort of experiences, still stay curious, still learn, but also impart that knowledge that I've gained over the years.

Because you just, I don't know, with us all being now online and connected, I think more than ever, it's important that we just stay curious and keep learning, you know, because there's so much to learn out there. It's a wonderful age. Well, until next time, I want to encourage everybody to stay tuned and make it rain. Make it rain.

I love it. And we're out. Cool. OK, so one more thing to do, Jared.

Please.